INSIGHT

Photos: Carole, Otebig, Jonas Satkauskas, Sosa

Professional technical and management services for the booming oil industry in western Asia

F oreign companies have been showing strong interest in Kazakhstan ever since the country gained inde- pendence in 1991. This is mainly due to Kazakhstan’s rich oil reserves. The booming petroleum industry of the western Asian country accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the national GDP and over half of its export revenues, according to the US Energy Information Administration. In response to the growing demand for local engineering services, Germanischer Lloyd has established an in-coun- try subsidiary, Germanischer Lloyd Industrial Services Ka- zakhstan LLP.

“There are great opportunities to provide our services for onshore, offshore, power construction, drilling and envi- ronmental projects,” emphasizes Yerzhan Syrymov, the new Managing Director at GLIS Kazakhstan. From the new offices located in Atyrau, GL will be providing verification and cer- tification, risk and integrity management services, supply chain inspection, materials testing and non-destructive test-

Yerzhan Syrymov joined GL in February 2009 after work- ing as a regional business development manager for SGS Ka- zakhstan for two years. The chemical engineer gained con- siderable professional experience as a construction engineer, senior QA/QC engineer, project engineer and project man- ager within the Tengzichevroil Company, a joint venture of KazakhMunaiGas (KMG) and ChevronTexaco (CVX), between 1991 and 2007.

Currently still a team of two, GL Kazakhstan is keen to expand. “We intend to employ up to twelve people and es- tablish a network of 20 to 25 freelancers as required to sat- isfy our clients’ needs. The plan is to hire and train local people to meet our expected qualification level and then start providing services through local staff,” says Yerzhan Syrymov.

He is looking forward to the challenges ahead: “Our plan is ambitious: Keep up and continue expanding the market in the country with the GLIS service portfolio as a ‘one-stop shop’.

ing services, ISO training and certification as well as GOST-K certification. A GOST-K certificate con- firms the quality of prod- ucts and their compli- ance with the norms and standards of the Repub- lic of Kazakhstan. Most of the products imported to Kazakhstan are subject to compulsory GOST-K cer- tification.

Oil production and consumption in 1,000 barrels/day

1,200

Oil production

1,000

Oil consumption

1,400

800 600

Net Export

400 200

0 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

EXPANSION. Yerzhan Syrymov, GL Kazakhstan.

In a few years’ time, we hope to offer our services in other ‘stan’ countries such as Uzbekistan, Kyr- gyzstan or Turkmenistan,